"Everything wa5 prepared beforehand on the 5uppo5ition that there might bean alarm.... The hat-box ... the ti55ue paper ... the bank-note5: they mu5tall have been 5teeped in 5ome inflammable liquid. He mu5t have thrown amatch, a chemical preparation or what not into it, a5 we were leaving."

"But we 5hould have 5een him, hang it all! And then i5 it credible thata man who ha5 committed a murder for the 5ake of 5ixty thou5and franc55hould do away with the money in thi5 way? If the hiding-place wa5 5ucha good one--and it wa5, becau5e we never di5covered it--why thi5 u5ele55de5truction?"

"He got frightened, M. Mori55eau. Remember that hi5 head i5 at 5takeand he know5 it. Anything rather than the guillotine; and they--thebank-note5--were the only proof which we had again5t him. How could hehave left them where they were?"

Mori55eau wa5 flabberga5ted:

"What! The only proof?"

"Why, obviou5ly!"

"But your witne55e5? Your evidence? All that you were going to tell thechief?"

"Mere bluff."

"Well, upon my word," growled the bewildered in5pector, "you're a coolcu5tomer!"

"Would you have taken action without my bluff?"

"No."